


Sketches

by LarielAris



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M, Merthur Party 2013
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 09:50:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LarielAris/pseuds/LarielAris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every year Merlin would return to the place he once called home to visit for a day.  Every year he found some way to document the way that Camelot had changed to make it easier for Arthur when he finally returned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sketches

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eternityinalake](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=eternityinalake), [Cynthiallanos](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Cynthiallanos).



> I hope for this piece to be an into to a much longer piece of work, but I a horribly slow writer so it may take a while. It was written for Merthur Party 2013 prompt 5: "Not the End" and inspired by an idea that Eternityinalake had.  
> Last but definitely not least there are some nice sketches and pictures to go along with this from Cynthiallanos http://cynthiallanos.tumblr.com/post/71351641580/once-a-year-every-year-on-arthurs-birthday
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.

 

**Sketches**

 

      Every year it's the same. Merlin would return to the place he once called home to visit for a day. It had been hard to do at first. All his friends were still there, but he couldn't make himself stay among them. Really, what reason was there for him to stay. Instead he stayed by the lake and waited. Someday Arthur would be back, and he would be waiting for him.

 

      The first few years Merlin hadn't done anything but wait, but as time continued to flow he realized that it could take years and years before Arthur returned. Of course there was nothing he could do about that until he started to notice that he didn't age like his friends did. In fact it seemed as if he wasn't aging at all. If this went on too long then he would be the only one still around when Arthur came back. That was what led him to the idea of making sketches for Arthur. That was the best way he could show Arthur how Camelot changed.

 

      The first time Merlin sketched Camelot it was only a few years after Arthur died. At least it was to everyone else, but time had seemed to stop for Merlin the moment he lost his best friend. Everyone else looked older and wiser, but not Merlin. He was still the same as the day he'd laid Arthur to rest. It was Gaius that first brought it to his attention. That was what lead to the aging spell. Merlin slowly learned how to make it seem as if he was aging along with everyone else. He knew Gaius worried, and he didn't want to cause the man any unnecessary pain.

 

      Once a year, every year, on Arthur's birthday, Merlin would come back to Camelot and sketch it. In a way it was his birthday gift to Arthur. Even though Arthur was gone, and his friends were aging without him it was rather easy to visit and sketch at first. Once his friends got old and passed, well that took it's toll on him and yet he still did it. Merlin had meant every word when he'd told Arthur he was happy to be his servant until the day he died. Because it was becoming more and more apparent that he wouldn't die, and he vowed to do this for Arthur and to live for Arthur.

 

      Over the years Camelot changed, but he caught the changes, from the great kingdom it was when Arthur was there until it was nothing but just a legend. His first sketches had been rather rough, as a novice he hadn't been that good at it, but eventually they got better and better as his skill improved. Sometimes he would change his medium, sketching, painting, even taking pictures when cameras and film were invented. He actually found taking pictures more enjoyable since he could actually capture every detail for when Arthur returned. Videos proved to be the most fun though.

 

      Merlin had stuck to the pictures and sketches at first, but over time he started to write letters to go along with them. He could only imagine that waiting however many years it took for Arthur to come back would do to his mind. The letters would help him keep it straight. Maybe the letters were more for him then for Arthur, more to keep his hope alive. It wouldn't do for Arthur to come back and for Merlin to no longer be the person his king knew.

 

     Merlin's yearly trip was what kept him sane in all the years since Arthur had been gone. He never allowed himself to get attached to anyone like he had been to Arthur. He didn't even let himself get as attached to anyone as he had to his friends and family back in Camelot. He didn't want to sit and watch more fiends get old and die. It hurt so much. No, he live only for Arthur. He did devote a lot of time into learning more and more magic to prepare for his friend's return rather that socializing.

 

     When Arthur did finally come back, Merlin had books and books of sketches, paintings, and pictures, and even a video or two of the sight where Camelot once stood. In fact Merlin had a whole trunk load of things for Arthur. That trunk was the one of the few possessions that Merlin would never part with. The other was Arthur's mother's sigil that Arthur had given him. It hung from a leather cord around Merlin's neck since the day he'd lost Arthur. And the last thing was an old worn knight's cloak that once belonged to Arthur.

 

     It could be said that Merlin lived in the past because of the items he held dear. Of course the chest, the cloak, and the sigil stopped aging along with Merlin. He'd taken great pains to learn how to preserve those things over time. It just wouldn't to for Arthur to come back to find that the sketches that Merlin had made for him from Camelot's golden age, were nothing but dust.

 

     Aside from those and his few items and occasional other little bits of magic here and there, Merlin tried to avoid using it. He'd vowed to himself that his magic was for Arthur and he would only use it for Arthur. That would all change the day that Arthur came back. Until that day happened Merlin would wait, and every year return to the place he's once called home to sketch it for Arthur's birthday.

 


End file.
